Third religious lawsuit against contraception mandate tossed as frivolous

Wheaton College was the first prominent evangelical school to join the conservative Catholic crusade against the Obamacare provision that requires employer-based insurers to cover birth control without co-pays. Despite the fact that Wheaton’s student health plan already covered contraception before the health care reform became law, the conservative college claimed the birth control requirement violated their religious liberty.

However, Wheaton’s case against Obamacare is entirely without merit. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle threw out Wheaton’s case, citing the college’s lack of sufficient evidence that it had actually suffered religious discrimination under Obamacare — especially since the health care reform does not fully go into effect until 2013. This marks the third religious lawsuit against Obamacare that has been dismissed on these grounds.